Ex-Ute coach Rick Majerus remembered in Milwaukee

By Kurt Kragthorpe The Salt Lake Tribune

Published December 8, 2012 1:30 pm

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Milwaukee • Rick Majerus was memorialized Saturday in the town where he coached basketball at every level from the eighth grade to the NBA.

A funeral service for Majerus, who died Dec. 1 of heart failure at age 64, was conducted at the Church of the Gesu on the campus of Marquette University, the Jesuit school where he began his coaching career as a student assistant. Among the speakers were Utah philanthropist, and close Majerus friend, Jon M. Huntsman Sr., and former University of Utah player Alex Jensen.

Majerus spent 15 years in Salt Lake City, and his greatest coaching achievement was taking the University of Utah to the NCAA championship game in 1998. Yet he remained closely tied to his native Wisconsin, where he developed his love for basketball and became the head coach at Marquette and then assistant with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks before going to Ball State and then Utah from 1989-2004.

Utah athletic director Chris Hill represented the school at the funeral, which was attended by many of Majerus' former players — including the current Saint Louis University team. A memorial service was held Friday at SLU, where Majerus coached for five seasons before taking a leave of absence in August and then announcing three weeks ago that his health would not allow him to return to the school.

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